Huge Brick Wall Wrap Greets Fans at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama

Welcome to The Magic City

Nestled in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama is Protective Stadium, the home of University of Alabama at Birmingham football, Birmingham Legion FC, USFL football and the college football TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. The newly-constructed stadium opened its gates to fans in October 2021 and has a max capacity of 47,100.

Located at the south entrance, as fans funnel up the ramp to their seats, is a massive, 154-foot brick wrap vinyl purple mural with “Welcome to Birmingham” displayed in light blue and white letters with a purple background. Above the letters is the Birmingham city skyline, including the Magic City Rotary Trail sign, 34-story Shipt Tower and Vulcan, the largest cast iron statue in the world. The artwork was supplied by Telegraph Creative in Birmingham, Alabama.

From Vision to Vinyl

Projects of this size require a lot of teamwork and coordination to make the vision a reality. 40 VISUALS kicked off this project by going on-site to take a site survey, record measurements and identify any obstacles for for installation. Smaller vinyl brick wrap squares were in place prior to the install and had to be removed to make way for the larger mural. One major advantage of using brick wrap vinyl over paint on brick walls is that it can be cleanly removed from the brick wall using heat, with no damage to the wall or residue left behind.

The 154-foot wrap was divided into 38 sections, each section 26 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It took an install crew of five workers seven days to fully affix the mural to the wall. Each section had to be meticulously placed to line up perfectly with one another. After the initial placement, the crew went back over the wall to heat the vinyl, which sets the wrap, allowing it to mold into all the contours of the rough textured brick to make it look painted on the wall.

Expanding on the mural, the stadium concourse columns were also wrapped on all four sides, promoting various events and organizations the stadium is involved with. This project was the second wave of graphics installed at the stadium, read more about the first wave of graphics here.